Some Nigerians are obsessed with religious balance in politics, to the point where religion and tribe are now used interchangeably.
This hypocrisy is reaching a ridiculous level.
When a person’s own religion benefits from an appointment, they claim it was based strictly on competence. They tell you to focus on track records because "Nigeria must work."
But the moment the tables turn, they become professional critics, join opposition parties and claim their "religion" has been shortchanged and threatening to withdraw their votes.
Both Christians and Muslims are guilty of this. They defend dominance when it favours them and lament marginalisation when it does not.
Many of our friends who were silent when the Buhari regime favoured their faith now claim Tinubu’s wife—a Christian—secretly controls appointments to favour her religion.
Ironically, these same people defended a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a matter of strategy and ignored the cries for representation from others. This hypocrisy is elastic but yet to reach its limit.
I do not envy politicians; they are sharks taking advantage of an ocean of stupidity that our people have become in the name of imported Religions.
Many states have ignored religious minorities for years, yet their citizens are the loudest in demanding religious balance at the national level.
This obsession is costing us everything. Between geography, federal character, senatorial zones, and tribes, the president is already under immense pressure to balance appointments. When religion is added to this mix, it creates an unnecessary crisis. We have complicated governance.
Ironically, I have never seen these people blame religion for the failure of a person in government when they under-achieve... There is nothing like Christians are looting, Muslims are under developing Nigeria. Instead, we hide behind political parties and say things like APC messed up Nigeria, PDP looted Nigeria etc. Both Muslims and Christians protect each other from public rebukes despite deserving it pro max.
Some will even blame evil men in the Isese for the failure of these imported religions' representation in governance to deliver. They will call for more prayers and fasting to neutralise agents of darkness.
If we are to be honest, we can safely say Muslims and Christians collectively ruin Nigeria.
When I hear people arguing over religious slots, I don't see pious people—I see a nation in slavery. Christianity and Islam were originally other people’s local traditional religions. They became global brands through strategic and often violent expansion.
Through slavery and colonialism, they were forced upon Africans, robbing us of our ancestral values and making us believe foreign ones were holier.
By packaging their culture as a universal brand, they turned spirituality into a commercial tool for psychological control.
Our education system reinforces this at all levels. We fight over religions while ignoring African values built on communal responsibility and local accountability.
We have become more religious, and yet our societies are more chaotic, corrupt and wicked.
This religious balancing in politics only serves the elites (both in politics and commerce and on pulpits), many of whom do not even live by the tenets they preach. They are interested in lobbying their imported religion against another imported religion and thus perpetuating a "slavery for slavery" mentality.
To move forward, we must separate religion from governance. Your Isese—whether imported or local—should stay in your home, not on the ballot paper.
In Singapore, campaigning based on faith is a disqualifying offence. Rwanda banned identity politics after the genocide and is now thriving. Even the UAE hires the best global talent regardless of faith in building its economy. They focus on what works, not what satisfies a group of demented clerics who exercise power behind the scenes through religions.
Africans may not know real progress until we stop being played by bigots. Religion should be removed as a criterion for leadership, and preaching religious division should be a crime with heavy punishment.
Let us embrace competency and return to functional values that put the people first.
And if we insist that Nigeria must emphasise religion, the most effective way to truly carry everyone along is to include all local traditional religions and their representatives in politics and government. Let us all go mad together if sense cannot prevail.
-WOK
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